On October 11th 2002, our mother Shaden Abu-Hijleh (aged 62), a grandmother,
peace activist and philanthropist, was murdered in cold blood. Israeli
soldiers deliberately shot her without provocation while she was embroidering
inside our family home in the West Bank City of Nablus. Over 15 hollow-point
bullets, which are banned by international law, were shot directly at
our family killing our mother and injuring our father and brother. The
bullet holes in our walls and glass door serve as a painful reminder.

Martyred days ago

Murdered
in Nablus October 11, 2002 by the Israeli Occupation Forces

The unjustifiable circumstances of our mother’s
murder brought about international condemnation of the Israeli Army’s
actions against Palestinian innocent civilians in general and her case
in particular. Many local and international news agencies covered her
clear-cut, cold-blooded murder. The Israeli Government had promised
the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, human
rights organizations, journalists and even the the White House, to conduct
a serious investigation. To this date no one has received any official
results of the investigation.

We have vowed to pursue the case of our mother’s murder to try
to bring the ones responsible to justice. As a part of our effort, we
have established this website to:

Serve as a memorial

Document our pursuit for justice

Establish a forum to educate people regarding the circumstances
of her death and other innocent Palestinian civilians killed in a
similar senseless manner

Our mother dedicated her life to peace, fairness and justice. She worked
for the poor, she worked for the status of Palestinian women, she worked
with orphans. We know nothing will bring her back to us, but if our
efforts will make the next soldier hesitate a little bit before pulling
the trigger and killing another mother, then she will not have died
in vain.

We hope our efforts serve to continue our mother’s work towards
a just peace using nonviolent means.

Without justice, peace will never have a chance.

A movie that documents the killing of our beloved mother can be
seen here: